HELP! 1st time in France & travelling with kids.

[Jim Dawson]

Hello, we are travelling to France at the end of July with our two young children (ages 4&6), thinking of heading south but sticking to countryside/lakes rather than cities.

I just wondered if anyone had any recommendations to some good sites/places to visit? We plan on spending two weeks and taking in a couple of different locations. our ideal campsite would have lake/river, places to cycle and plenty of safe open space for the kids.

Its our first time, so we're literally relying on google

Cheers

 

[hirsty]

We very much enjoyed the area around Annecy in August '15 - great lake swimming, lovely town itself & nice drives in the foothills of the Alps. One grey day whilst we were there & we drove to Chamonix & then on to the Mont Blanc tunnel which I'd not been through before. Geneva is a similar distance in the NE direction.

I've not been myself, but there was a recent thumbs up for campsite Lac Bleu & I've bookmarked it for next time we're going that way.

 

[Verity]

The French are fabulous at creating lakes and then making them friendly for families to play in - they just put big barrages across rivers and hey presto - they're all over the place. Not like the UK where any body of water is immediately fenced off/charged for/full of poisonous algae/killer shrimp and the car park is ten quid a day and closes at 6pm. Oops, did I get into a little rant there?

Seriously though, go as far south as you can stand with two kids in the car, and France is full of lakes and rivers which are open to the public. We spent a fabulous couple of weeks last year at Sarlat and all around there you can canoe safely on the Dordogne or Vesere rivers - the water is shallow but quite fast moving, but it is entirely suitable for supervised kids. Can also recommend Bauden lake near Draguignan, but that is a long way south. Camping in France is easy too. You can usually rock up at a municipal site without booking, but with young kids I would recommend booking first. There are loads of books in the shops and websites which will give you ideas. Also the two big camping clubs in the UK have recommendations/partnerships and are worth a look. You will probably recoup your joining fee by the savings on the channel crossings alone (though it's getting a bit late to book now if you haven't already ...).

Good luck! France is a fantastic holiday destination for kids. They will eat as many croissants/baguettes/cheese as you can buy, and all the markets sell lovely fresh stuff you can take back to your van and cook outside. Heaven. We're going to California this year, me reluctantly. I got outvoted.

 

[Jim Dawson]

We very much enjoyed the area around Annecy in August '15 - great lake swimming, lovely town itself & nice drives in the foothills of the Alps. One grey day whilst we were there & we drove to Chamonix & then on to the Mont Blanc tunnel which I'd not been through before. Geneva is a similar distance in the NE direction.

I've not been myself, but there was a recent thumbs up for campsite Lac Bleu & I've bookmarked it for next time we're going that way.

Thank you, I've had a nosey at Lac Bleu and it looks beautiful, what a setting!, shame there's so much rain in August, and coming from Scotland that's one thing we are looking to avoid

 

[Jim Dawson]

The French are fabulous at creating lakes and then making them friendly for families to play in - they just put big barrages across rivers and hey presto - they're all over the place. Not like the UK where any body of water is immediately fenced off/charged for/full of poisonous algae/killer shrimp and the car park is ten quid a day and closes at 6pm. Oops, did I get into a little rant there?

Seriously though, go as far south as you can stand with two kids in the car, and France is full of lakes and rivers which are open to the public. We spent a fabulous couple of weeks last year at Sarlat and all around there you can canoe safely on the Dordogne or Vesere rivers - the water is shallow but quite fast moving, but it is entirely suitable for supervised kids. Can also recommend Bauden lake near Draguignan, but that is a long way south. Camping in France is easy too. You can usually rock up at a municipal site without booking, but with young kids I would recommend booking first. There are loads of books in the shops and websites which will give you ideas. Also the two big camping clubs in the UK have recommendations/partnerships and are worth a look. You will probably recoup your joining fee by the savings on the channel crossings alone (though it's getting a bit late to book now if you haven't already ...).

Good luck! France is a fantastic holiday destination for kids. They will eat as many croissants/baguettes/cheese as you can buy, and all the markets sell lovely fresh stuff you can take back to your van and cook outside. Heaven. We're going to California this year, me reluctantly. I got outvoted.

Haha just a little

Thanks for your feedback. We were thinking of driving right down and into Spain at one point but concerned that's just a whole load of driving, thinking maybe Montpellier region now. We're looking for somewhere that's not a french version of Haven/Butlins especially as we seem to be travelling peek season for French holidays.

California sounds fab, lucky you!!

 

[Ciarán o flynn]

Camping le blu on the lake very safe for kids

 

[Verity]

Haha just a little

Thanks for your feedback. We were thinking of driving right down and into Spain at one point but concerned that's just a whole load of driving, thinking maybe Montpellier region now. We're looking for somewhere that's not a french version of Haven/Butlins especially as we seem to be travelling peek season for French holidays.

California sounds fab, lucky you!!

Montpellier region is AWESOME - mainly for the predictably wonderful weather. If you go that way don't miss Aigues-Mortes, which well worth a visit. Beautiful fortified town. Very commercial now with lots of touristique shops etc, but still lovely. And the coast down there is lovely - drive down to Espiguettes (sp?) and see the flamingoes in the river. Check out the Camargue with the white horses and the black bulls - it's very Spanish influenced down there.

Ooo I just love France. We've spent many holidays there, for the last 18 years mainly concentrating on anywhere that's warm for our two week hols in the summer but we're about to be unshackled from the kid (large sob) so holidays outside term times mean that we will be free to explore more interesting places at our leisure without worrying about whingey kid in the rain. Whenever we've tried to go off the beaten track further north before, the weather has driven us away and sent us south mid holiday. We are legendary amongst our friends and family as the people who never spend their holiday in the place they booked. We tried tenting at Lake Maggiore in August in 2007 and after 7 days of constant rain so hard you couldn't even see the loo block let alone run to it we finally gave up and moved to Draguignan where friends told us the sun was shining. And a 5 day mini break in a 2cv in the 90s pre kid planned for the Loire valley which led to us going a 'right turn Clyde' and heading south to Montpellier. We cocked that one up a bit as we arrived back for our ferry home most indignant as there was no ferry, only to look at our tickets to discover we were exactly 24 hours late for our booking. Turned out a 5 day mini break was 4 nights. Oops. That was a long way for a 2cv. Fortunately we'd taken all the back seats out and filled it up with wine; unfortunately, that made it only manage about 40 mph back up the autoroute ... ahhh, happy youthful days ....

 

[hirsty]

Don't get me wrong, the weather is clearly always better the further south you go, but it's a Hell of a long way with kids onboard? YMMV, but I'm shelving that one for the time being as "are we nearly there yet?" would wear thin for me over a long two-day drive down from Le Tunnel.

I'd say it's too far, but it's your party: there was a Provence thread recently with lots of top tips - we stayed around Lac d'Esparron last year in August '16 - again great lake swimming, though the lovely shallow pebbly river running through our Yelloh Village site at Greoux Les Bains was icy cold. Gorge du Verdon is unmissable, but perhaps of less interest if you are 4 or 6 ...

 

[bigmac77]

Headrest mounted DVD players are the answer then you can drive all day.

 

[d1rtym0nk3y]

We've stayed at a few Castel's campsites for stop overs on our way around France and always found them excellent for the kids.

https://www.camping-castels.co.uk

 

[James B 2016]

We stayed in lac bleu in annecy a few weeks ago with 2 boys aged 3&4. It was fantastic. There was a really nice cycle path for the kids next to the lake and the scenery was beautiful. It took us most of the day from Calais to get there but we were surprised how well the boys travelled. I think they understood it will take all day better than by 5pm or a few hours.. kid logic..

We may go back there again in July but the site is fully booked. They said you can turn up on the day and there may be spaces..

In previous years we've also been to the area around noirmoutier/ st Julien des landes. The climate is good there. Better than further south in Biarritz strangely because of the way the mid Atlantic drift works I think..

 

[Tom Downie]

Hello, we are travelling to France at the end of July with our two young children (ages 4&6), thinking of heading south but sticking to countryside/lakes rather than cities.

I just wondered if anyone had any recommendations to some good sites/places to visit? We plan on spending two weeks and taking in a couple of different locations. our ideal campsite would have lake/river, places to cycle and plenty of safe open space for the kids.

Its our first time, so we're literally relying on google

Cheers

Have not long returned form France and can recommend Vicarious Books' 'All The AIRES France'. Aires vary greatly but we found a wonderful spot outside Rennes + Plelan Le Grand (No 256 page 62).
Also recommend 'Park4night.com' listing many secluded spots off the beaten track where you can stop as well as campsites and 'camping au ferme'. Make sure you enjoy your trip!!

 

[Zebedee]

Another vote for Les Castels group, nice international mix of guests, always lovely and the chateaux are family owned. Last year stayed just outside of Poitiers with them. Fab site, lovely area around there. Hot but not too hot. A visit to Futuroscope for the second year running. And not too long a journey.

 

[Jim Dawson]

Hi All,

Thanks for all the advice and tips.
That's us all booked up for our 1st trip away, will be spending two weeks near Vallon-Pont-d'Arc and Millau, fingers crossed for good weather.

Can anyone recommend a good hotel / B&B with secure parking (taking 4 bikes with us) near Reims / Troyes. Preferably not to far from the A4/A26 motorways.

Thanks.

 

[SpikeMcBike]

Last 2 years we have stayed at Novotel Tinqueux, literally just off the A26 Reims. There is an Ibis next door if you want something more budget conscious. Last year we were fully laden with 4 bikes on the back and they were fine overnight in the car park. It is very private and safe.

We liked it as after a day in the van, the kids jump straight into the pool on arrival and the restaurant is fine.

Having said that, this year we have decided to stay at a campsite near Reims for our first overnight stop instead.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk